From Ceglie Messapica we had driven the short distance to Cisternino – a charming old town that has remained virtually intact for centuries.
We strolled through the narrow, shady streets gazing at the whitewashed houses, historic churches and elegant central piazza that opens out onto a series of panoramic view points.
From the viewing points we had a fantastic view of the surrounding countryside, with its rolling hills, dry stone walls and white-tipped conical trulli roofs.
Our next destination was just ten kilometres down the road to the really beautiful town of Locorotondo – purported to be “Puglia’s prettiest little town”.
We had a wonderful time wandering through the labyrinth of white alleys, lanes and stairways of the Centro storico. It was an absolutely stunning and being off-season extremely quiet.
While meandering round the alleyways we found a a typical Italian restaurant – checked tablecloths and all – called Trattoria Al Vecchio Arco and had a delightful meal there.
The owner, Pasquale, explained there was no menu and we said we’d be happy to eat whatever his wife had cooked that day. The food was delicious but for us, far too plentiful – not wishing to be rude we ate as much as we could of the dishes put in front of us and waddled out feeling just too full.
We also tried the local white wine for which the city is famous – it was very fruity in style and a bit sweet for our taste but pleasant nonetheless.
From Locorotondo we drove on to Alberobello where there are 1,400 trulli (hobbit houses) within the city. The traffic was pretty crazy as we approached so we decided to keep going towards Polignano, a resort town on the Adriatic Coast.
All the campervan parks appeared to be closed so we ended up parked in roadway near marina (what a surprise!)
After settling in we decided to go for a walk to look at the yachts but the marina’s security guard had other ideas. Then we said the magic words “but we have a boat” and he let us in and introduced us to Fiorenzo, the very charming and friendly manager who suggested that we park right outside the marina the following day so that his security guard could watch over the van while we explored Polignano.
He was very informative about what to see and where to go in the local area and lent us a beautiful coffee table book to browse through overnight. In the light of a glorious full moon we had a lovely wander around the marina before returning to the van for the night.
Salty tales from Bali Hai on Sunday 